


Human Calculator

by eightbulbasaurplushies



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: Coming of Age, Highschool AU, M/M, write more jefftony cowards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-17 12:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17560565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eightbulbasaurplushies/pseuds/eightbulbasaurplushies
Summary: AU in which Giygas isn't a problem, Poo isn't a prince, and Snow Wood isn't an all boys school.





	1. Chapter 1

It was especially frigid in Winters the day the teachers began to speak of finals, and every first year was filled with horrible dread, not knowing what was waiting for them at the end of June. 

In the boys dorm, students were split into four categories; the first years expressing their worries and stressors, the older students explaining exactly what their first year finals were like to them, the token rebels smoking cigarettes out the bathroom window in hopes that the teachers wouldn’t smell the tobacco (they always did), and the boys talking about families taking tours of the school recently, wondering who of the boys they caught sight of might join them in the dorm and who of the girls walking with their families would be living in the dorm beneath them, who they could sneak around with behind the student library and theatre house once they moved in.

Among group number one were two boys, both just about thirteen years old, going over flashcards together, sitting cross legged on the floor of their shared room. 

“Okay, Tony, what’s the formula for calculating slope?” Jeff said, placing the previous card in the used pile with one hand. Tony made a sound of distress and gently tossed his hat on the ground as if he wanted to protest, but was afraid of ruining his hat.

“I hate maths.” He said, leaning back against the end of his bed.

“It’s really not that bad,” Spoke up an older student, who had been hanging out in Jeff ands Tony’s room at the time. 

“That’s easy for you to say, Maxwell.” Tony replied, fixing his hat back atop his messy auburn hair. “You’re always on the honor roll,  _ and  _ you’ve already taken this class.”

“Well, maybe you could be on the honor roll too if you’d let me tutor you.” Maxwell said, walking over to sit with the boys.

“Tony, do you know it?” Jeff asked, still holding the flashcard with the answer in his hand. Tony sighed.

“No.”

Jeff gave Tony a vaguely worried look.

“It’s- it starts with y,” Jeff began, helpfully.

“Y… um…”

“Eeeeeeeequeals…” 

“Y equals… uh… something…” Tony said.

“Mmmmmmmmmmm-” Jeff continued. Maxwell laughed.

“He’s not gonna get it, Jeff.”

“Y equals m?” Tony said.

“And?” Jeff ignored Maxwell.

“Um… Oh, oh, I think I know what we’re talking about now! It’s… something… is there multiplication?”

“Yes! Keep going!” Jeff encouraged, eyes lighting up.

“Y equals m…. Y equals….” Tony jumped to his feet as if he had made the most amazing discovery of 199X.

“Y EQUALS M X PLUS B!” He shouted, pointing to the sky triumphantly. Jeff broke out cheering with the energy of a full stadium of sport fans when their team scored the winning point, and he and Tony shared a loud high five, which, of course, was a very painful one, and both boys hissed and shook out their hands as Maxwell watched with amusement. 

“Can we break now?” Tony said, looking pleadingly at Jeff.

“We’re only five flashcards in!” Jeff exclaimed, acting exasperated despite his joyful smile.

“Come on, Jeff, please????” Tony whined, flashing Jeff his puppy dog eyes. Jeff melted beneath Tony’s gaze and sighed, placing down the flashcards.

“Okay, fine.”

Tony pumped a fist in the air and cheered, then flopped over backwards onto his bed. Maxwell smiled and took Tony’s hat, which had fallen off his head and onto the ground, and placed it over Tony’s face. Jeff snickered as Tony let out a “hey!” and placed the hat on his chest instead.

“Hey, Max, what about  _ your  _ finals?” Jeff asked, turning to Maxwell as he reorganized the cards. Maxwell shrugged.

“I’m not too worried about them.  _ Except _ for my final project for robotics.” He replied.

“What’s your final project?” Tony piped up.

“To build a functional robot, of course.” Maxwell said. “We have to come up with a function for the bot, and then make it. Mine is supposed to do basic carpentry, but I’m having difficulty getting it to do anything besides walk around. It also doesn’t help that I don’t know anything about carpentry.”

“What if you make a robot who’s function is to build other useless robots?” Tony mused, staring at the ceiling. Jeff laughed as Maxwell rolled his eyes. 

“If only I could get help from a true scientist.” Maxwell said, voice dripping with melodrama. Jeff’s smile faded and the air hung more heavy in the room, Jeff knew what Maxwell meant and what he wanted from him, and it was something that he could not give. 

After an awkward silence in which Jeff did not reply, Maxwell cleared his throat.

“Anyway, they say there’s a couple new kids coming in.” He said, attempting to break the intensity in the air.

“Really? A couple? At this time of year?” Tony said, and Jeff was eternally thankful that Tony volunteered to converse with Maxwell, instead of forcing Jeff to himself.

“Yeah, that’s what everyone is saying. I think one of them is an exchange student, too.”

“From where?”

“I think they said Dalaam. No idea why anyone from there would move somewhere so cold.” 

Tony laughed lightly and turned to look at Jeff, who was quietly picking at the carpet, not looking up.

 

“Hey, Max, it’s getting late. I have to start getting ready for bed.” Tony said.

“Oh, yeah, you’re right.” Maxwell said, standing up. “I should go. Goodnight, all.”

“Bye!” Tony waved as Maxwell reached for the door knob, and Jeff brought himself to flash him a weak smile. Maxwell shut the door behind him, and Jeff let out a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Thanks, Tony.” Jeff said, standing up and walking over to his own bed. He sat down defeatedly. 

“No problem.” Tony replied.

“I wish he would stop doing that. Like, he’s fun to hang out with sometimes, but he  _ always  _ has to bring that up.” Jeff flopped over backwards on his bed.

“He’s gonna get in trouble for it, one of these days.” Tony began removing his neck tie, ready to change into pajamas. Jeff shook his head.

“It’s not as if the teachers are much better.”

Tony made a hum of sad agreement and tossed his coat onto the ground. 

“Do you think there are really gonna be new kids?” 

Jeff rolled over to look at Tony.

“I don’t know, maybe.”

Tony unbuttoned his shirt and shed it, and Jeff averted his eyes, fiddling with his glasses. Figuring that he should probably change as well, Jeff sat up with his back to Tony and began untying his bowtie. 

“I think it would be cool.” Tony said, struggling to put on his pajama pants while standing up. “If they’re nice, anyway.”

Jeff nodded, reaching into the drawer next to his bed for his cartoon space patterned pjs.

“Hey, did you ever figure out the english homework?” Jeff said, sweating, and still trying not to look behind himself. Tony laughed.

“No.” He replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Jeff laughed and took his chances with turning around, and found that Tony was fully dressed in a pair of silk red pajamas, and was hanging his hat on the end of his bed. Tony ruffled out his own hair, which had been pressed beneath his hat all day. Jeff smiled and flopped over in bed, pulling himself beneath the scratchy school provided sheets that he’d come to associate with home. Tony followed suit in his own bed, and then frowned as Jeff reached under his bed for a tool box and a collection of scraps he kept beneath there, and took the book light taped to a headband that he used as a headlight at times like these. 

“Jeff,” Tony said, like a mother warning her son.

“What?” Jeff replied innocently, clicking on the book light.

“Come on, we have a test tomorrow. You have to sleep.” 

“I know, but I’m working on a laser gun!”

“A laser gun?!?!?” 

 

Tony threw his blankets off his body and crawled excitedly onto Jeff’s bed, eyes sparkling. Jeff laughed as Tony leaned over his shoulder to get a look at the parts that Jeff was managing.

“That’s so cool!” Tony leaned over on Jeff’s shoulder. “Won’t you get in trouble, though?”

“Shh!” Jeff placed a finger over his lips and turned to Tony, smiling. “Not if the teachers don’t find it.”

“What are you gonna do with it?” Tony asked, and Jeff stopped for a moment.

“Oh,” he said, “I hadn’t really thought about that.” His hands turned back to working. “I guess I just want to see if I can do it.”

Tony laughed and stood up, removing himself from Jeff’s bed, and Jeff mourned the loss of contact in the deepest parts of his mind. Tony returned to his bed.

“You should still go to sleep, though.” He said, climbing back under his covers.

“I’ll have some coffee in the morning.” Jeff replied dismissively, not looking up from his work. Tony sighed, but, knowing there was no convincing Jeff, rolled over in his bed to reach his bedside lamp.

“Okay,” he said, “goodnight.”

“Night.” Jeff replied, and Tony turned out the lights.

 

—-

 

“Mr. Andonuts!”

“Hm?” Jeff turned around, arms filled with books. The teacher who had called him, an older woman with greying hair and pale pink lipstick, and was not one that Jeff was too familiar with himself, as he’d never taken a class of hers, but he was not surprised that she’d known his name.

“We have a new student today, and his schedule matches yours. Would you mind showing him to his classes?” 

“Oh, sure!” Jeff replied, relieved that he was not in some sort of trouble. “I’d be glad to.”

“Wonderful!” The teacher clasped her hands together, and Jeff noticed that she was leaning out the door of the admissions office, her high heeled foot keeping the door part way open. She leaned back into the office.

“I just caught him as he was walking past. He can show you to your classes!” She ushered a short chubby boy into the hallway, who was wearing a uniform jacket over a striped yellow and blue shirt, and had his dark hair tucked under and red and blue baseball cap. He smiled and waved, hauling a backpack onto his back.

“Hi! I’m Ness.” He said. Jeff awkwardly stuck out his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Jeff. I- uh- nice to meet you.”

Ness took his hand and shook enthusiastically.

“You take care, boys! Ness, come find me if you need anything!” The teacher disappeared back into the office pleasantly, and Jeff frowned. Why does she call Ness by his first name, but not Jeff?

“You’ve already seen your room, right?” Jeff asked, beginning to walk. He motioned for Ness to follow.

“Mhm,” Ness skipped after Jeff, “and my roommate.”

“Who’s your roommate?” Jeff said, curiously.

“He’s new too! His name is Poo.”

Jeff adjusted his glasses and decided not to laugh at that out of respect for the new boy, and out of the need to feel mature.

“He must be the foreign exchange student. Is he from Dalaam?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Ness replied.

“I can’t believe we have two new people in one day.” Jeff mused to himself.

“Three!” Ness chirped.

“Three?”

“Three! My best friend Paula came here today too!” 

“Wh- how- so close to the end of the year- why did you all come on one day?” Jeff stumbled in both his walk and words. Ness laughed.

“I don’t know about Poo, but Paula and I wanted to come together.” He replied, cheerfully.

“That’s…  what a weird coincidence.” Jeff said. “Hey, we  _ are _ going to science, right?”

“We should be! That’s what I have first.”

“Oh, okay, good.” Jeff replied. “I just wanted to be sure.”

“Hey, Jeff, what about you?” Ness said, looking up at Jeff.

“What about me?” Jeff reiterated, confused.

“Who are your friends? What are you all about?”

“Um…” Jeff thought for a moment. What a strange question! He’d never really thought about what he was ‘all about’ before, or what he’d say if someone asked.

“My best friend is Tony, he’s my roommate. He’s not very good at math, but that’s okay because I help him with his homework. He has red-brown hair and he always wears this dark brimmed hat with a green ribbon tied around it, and he always helps me tie my bow tie when I get dressed in the morning.” Jeff stuttered. “Don’t tell anyone I said that.”. Ness smiled.

“Oh, he sounds nice.” Ness replied.

“He is!” Jeff said, feeling suddenly less awkward than he did earlier. “He’s really nice, you should meet him.” Jeff turned to grin at Ness.

“Okay!” Ness replied cheerily. “You should introduce me!”

“Maybe!” Jeff said, and turned to see that they had reached the particular science lab that served as the room for his science class.

“Here it is,” Jeff said, and led Ness into the lab room.

 

Inside, a few students were also sitting, early, and one who Jeff did not recognize turned and smiled at them, waving excitedly. Ness waved back and rushed over to her, and Jeff assumed that this was the aforementioned Paula girl. She was wearing a green uniform blazer over a frilly pink dress, and her blonde hair was tied up in a bow of the same green of her jacket. Jeff approached his usual seat, not wanting to interrupt, before Ness waved him over excitedly.

“Jeff! This is Paula!” Ness motioned to the girl with great pride, as if showing her off. Jeff smiled, mildly surprised that Ness was still acknowledging him, and walked over with his hand extended for another hand shake.

“Hi, I’m Jeff. Ness said… he said nice things about you.”

Paula smiled back and shook his hand, grip not as tight as Ness’s and shake not as enthusiastic, but still awfully pleasantly. 

“Hello! Are you Ness’s friend?” She said, and Jeff sputtered for a moment, before Ness answered her.

“Yeah!” He nodded enthusiastically. Jeff blinked.

“You… you want to be my friend?”

 

Before anyone could reply, Tony peeked out from behind Jeff.

“Morning!” Tony noticed the unfamiliar faces and gasped. “Oh, the new kids! Maxwell was right! I’m Tony!”

“Oh, Jeff told me about you! I’m Ness!” The pure innocence and joy shared between Tony and Ness as they introduced themselves to each other was intense enough to turn coal to diamonds, Jeff thought. 

 

Jeff stood silently, watching idly as the kids conversed excitedly, in awe at how easily the three could make friends with each other. After a moment, the professor entered the room, and Jeff and Tony retreated to their usual seats, which, of course, were right next to each other. As was per usual, the professor began the lesson, only to be interrupted nearly immediately when the door swung right back open. 

Behind it stood an older boy, who Jeff thought may be too old to be taking a first year class, long dark hair pulled into a rather formal braid behind him. He was silent, and he looked back and forth through the classroom, before strutting up to the professor and handing him something of a late note, Jeff assumed. Not that he was aware that anybody used or needed late notes at Snow Wood. When the professor took the note, the boy said nothing, and walked over to the nearest empty seat, and sat down with his hands folded. Still processing the event that just took place, the professor blinked, looked down at the note, and then continued the lesson.

“Well, as I’m sure most of you are aware, we should be starting our final project of the year this week. Today, I want to figure out grouping.”

Quietly, Paula raised her hand, and the professor nodded at her.

“Excuse me, sir, what is the project? Ness and I- we don’t know what it’s all about.” She said, seeming suddenly much less confident in herself than she did when introducing herself to Jeff.

“Oh, yes, why don’t you and Ness pair up with Mr. Andonuts?” Jeff jumped in his seat. “He can help you both. And,” the professor looked over to the other new boy, who had just walked in, “why don’t you work with Jeff as well?”

Ness and Paula seemed rather happy to be paired with Jeff, while the fourth boy simply nodded, still having not said anything. Then, the professor continued on, hardly explaining anything about the actual project as Paula had asked, and Jeff assumed that the professor was completely placing that responsibility on him. 

Tony had been placed with two other boys that Jeff was not close with, and Jeff felt very perturbed by not being paired with Tony for possibly the first time since he came to Snow Wood. When the professor finished speaking, the students gathered into their groups, and Jeff sat quietly and awkwardly as Ness and Paula bounded over, and the other boy sat down calmly next to him.

“Hi Poo!” Ness leaned over in front of Jeff to speak to the boy Jeff assumed was Poo, and Poo cracked a very unexpected smile.

“Hello, Ness.” He raised a hand in a small wave.

“Oh!” Jeff exclaimed, “you’re Ness’s roommate, aren’t you?”

Poo nodded, and held out his hand for a handshake.

“I am. And you are Jeff?”

Jeff took his hand and they shared what Jeff considered to be the first normal handshake he had had all day. 

“Yes, that’s me. It’s nice to meet you!”

“The pleasure is all mine.” Poo replied, placing a hand on his chest. Oh, Jeff liked him already.

“And this is Paula!” Ness piped up, moving over so that Poo could see Paula.

“Hello, Paula. Ness told me about you.” Poo said, waving again.

“Hi, Poo! What did he say?” 

“Anyway, Jeff, what’s this project about?” Ness interrupted quickly, and Poo quietly giggled. Jeff stifled a laugh as well, sharing a knowing look with both Poo and Ness, before beginning to explain.

“Well, the project is very open, the idea is to take information that we learned about during this year and expound on that by building some mechanism or conducting some experiment that relates to whatever subject we choose to base our project off,” Jeff said, using the explanatory hand gestures and movements that he used whenever he got more focused on explaining his work. “I was thinking, perhaps, about doing a project about aerodynamicity, and how much machinery and horse power would be needed to suffice for the non-aerodynamic build of some sort of flying vehicle, or how far the non-aerodynamicity can be taken.”

Jeff looked around to see the three faces blinking back at him, expressions blank, before Ness cracked a smile.

“Okay!” 

“I mean, we don’t have to do that, we, uh… we can do a project about something else, if you guys want…” Jeff’s voice broke, and he folded his hands together.

“Well, I think that sounds perfectly fine!” Paula said, smiling brightly. Jeff turned to look at Poo for any agreement in his face, and Poo smiled and nodded.

“Ah, well, alright then, if that’s what you’d all like. I was thinking that, maybe, we could-”

 

\---

 

Much to his dismay, Jeff realized that Tony was absolutely right to tell him to go to sleep earlier the night before, as he was just about falling asleep during his fifth class. He’d already taken that test that he had to, fortunately, but that didn’t change the fact that the professor was probably going on about something equally as important. Probably, anyway. Jeff didn’t know for sure, because it was very hard to pay attention when all of your energy is going into staying awake.

“Jeff?”

Jeff jumped right out of his seat when Ness tapped him on the shoulder from behind, landing awkwardly and embarrassingly on the floor. He looked around, still in shock, to realize that, thankfully, the classroom was nearly empty at this point, and hardly anybody would have seen. 

He turned around to look at Ness, who seemed equally as shocked, his finger still hovering in the air where he had tapped Jeff.

“Phht-”

Both their faces broke and they burst into laughter, Jeff’s perhaps more to cover his embarrassment than anything, but he couldn’t deny that it was probably actually pretty funny. Ness offered his hand and Jeff took it, fixing his glasses as Ness helped him off the ground.

“Sorry,” Jeff said, smiling sheepishly, “You surprised me.”

“It’s okay.” Ness said, still laughing lightly. “I’m sorry I surprised you. It’s, uh, it’s time for lunch now.”

“Right,” Jeff replied, gathering his books and such, “I’ll show you to the dining hall.”

 

And he did, Jeff led Ness down to the dining hall, which was bustling with other students coming down to meet with their friends and take their meals, some of the boys taking their food and seeing how disgusting they could create a concoction of them as if it was a fascinating science experiment, some of the girls staring back with disgust, other boys whisking off other girls to eat lunch with them elsewhere, friend groups gathering together at tables, some of the volunteering students serving food, musicians ogling the grand piano which sat in the dining hall for special occasions that they were told not to touch unless they were involved in those special occasions, students doing last minute math homework in between bites of their lunch, students copying off them. Jeff searched out Tony, as usual, and found that he was (of course) sitting at their usual table, which was also today occupied by Paula and Poo, who Tony was conversing with happily. Nearly forgetting about Ness, then taking his hand to lead him through the crowd, Jeff walked over and took his usual seat next to Tony.

“Hey! Here’s your milk!” Tony said, handing a small carton of chocolate milk to Jeff as he sat down. The dining hall only allowed students to take one milk per meal, and because Tony didn’t like milk all that much, and because Jeff  _ did  _ like milk all that much, it was lunch tradition for Tony to give Jeff his milk, allowing Jeff to have an illegal two chocolate milks. Rebellious. 

“Thank you.” Jeff took the milk and cracked it open, already drinking it as he was sitting down. Ness joyfully took a seat between Paula and Poo.

“Jeff fell out of his seat earlier because I tapped him on the shoulder!” Ness said, as if he was tattling. Jeff choked on his milk.

“Hey!” He cried, after recovering from the milk in his lungs, his face going red. Paula giggled, Poo clearly stifled a laugh, and Tony collapsed on Jeff’s shoulder with laughter. Jeff’s face only went redder, and he wasn’t sure why Tony was so surprised by this that he broke into gut wrenching laughter, but that oddly made him feel a little better about it. He cracked a small smile and nearly leaned back into Tony before he pulled away.

“Were you sleeping again?” Tony said.

“I mean, not completely,” Jeff replied, though he was still smiling.

“I told you to go to bed!” Tony shouted, despite his laughter.

“It’s  _ fine! _ It wasn’t until after the test!” Jeff protested. Poo let out his first non suppressed small laughter since Jeff had met him that day.

“You’re both very close.” He said, rather matter of factly.

“Oh,” Jeff was taken by surprise, “Well, yes, we’ve known each other for a long time.”

Tony grinned.

“For sure!” 

“Do you really help him tie his bowtie every morning?” Ness asked, leaning forwards. Tony nodded, pleased with himself, and Jeff gasped.

“I told you that in confidence!” Jeff cried, more disappointment in his voice than anger. Ness clapped his hand over his mouth.

“I’m sorry!!!” He shouted, “I forgot!!!”

“Does that mean if I untie his bowtie, he won’t be able to fix it?” Paula said, leaning forward threateningly.

“Don’t you  **_dare_ ** .” Jeff pointed a cautionary finger at her, and both Poo and Tony laughed.

“Come on, give him a break.” Poo said, and Jeff silently thanked him, hand still hovering protectively over his bowtie. The rest of the group was still laughing as he brought his drink to his lips and took a sip, before placing it back down.

“After all,” Poo continued, “we all have something like that. I couldn’t tie my shoes until I was nine.”

Jaws dropped around him as the kids registered their disbelief in the fact that someone so mature, so sophisticated, so formal, hadn’t learned to tie his own shoes until he was well into grade school.

“WHAT?” Ness shouted, perhaps too loud.

“It’s true,” Poo replied, somehow not at all embarrassed, “I wore sandals and slip on shoes up until then. Most people don’t wear shoelaces in Dalaam.”

“At least you have an excuse.” Jeff said into his chocolate milk. Poo shrugged.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. Plenty of people don’t know how to tie a tie. Besides,” He looked over at Tony, “So long as you have Tony, you shouldn’t have to worry.”

Jeff blinked. So long as he had Tony… how long would he have Tony for?

 

The thought made his head spin, and he took another swig of chocolate milk.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony hung upside down off the far end of his bed, clutching the game controller in his hand, and still managing to beat Jeff’s score while viewing the screen completely upside down.

“Tony, stop that. All the blood is gonna rush to your head and it’s not good for you.” Jeff said, not taking his eyes off the screen. They weren’t supposed to have video games at Snow Wood, but Tony’s brother had mailed him a Super Nintendo for his birthday and Jeff, being the dedicated friend he was, managed to figure out how to secretly hook it up to a small screen he had put together. It was usually hidden beneath Jeff’s bed when not in use.

“I feel fine.” Tony replied, before absolutely destroying Jeff in game. Tony cheered for himself and finally sat up.

“Oh my god.” Jeff said, placing his controller on the floor. “Stop using that move!”

“No! It makes me win!” Tony said, slipping off the bed to sit down next to Jeff. Jeff frowned and leaned his head on his hand, huffing.

“Do you wanna go again?” Tony asked, clearly pleased with himself.

“No.” Jeff replied dejectedly.

“Aw, come on! I promise I won’t use that move.”

Before Jeff could reply to Tony’s compromise, a knock sounded on the door, and the boys jumped and frantically made to shove the Super Nintendo back beneath Jeff’s bed before Jeff got up to answer the door.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jeff!”

Jeff opened the door to see Ness, and both he and Tony sighed with relief.

“Oh, thank god it’s just you. Hi, Ness.” Jeff opened the door wider to let Ness in, and Tony was already reaching for the Super Nintendo again.

“Hey Ness! Wanna play-!” Tony began, loudly, before Jeff cut him off with a dramatically hissed “Shh!”

“...Wanna play Street Fighter?” Tony whispered.

“Do I?!” Ness shouted, and plopped right down next to Tony on the ground. Jeff shut the door and climbed up on to Tony’s bed so that he could watch the game from behind. It hadn’t been long that they’d known Ness, but Tony had made friends with him so quickly that he hung out in their dorm fairly often, and Jeff actually quite liked that.

“Man, how did you guys get this in here?” Ness said over the sound effects of the game.

“I set it up.” Jeff straightened his posture, rather pleased with himself.

“Dude! That’s awesome!”

“Hey, Jeff, wanna play the winner?” Tony asked, still focused on the game.

“Only if it’s Ness.” Jeff teased, to which Tony replied with a dramatic gasp. Jeff laughed.

 

—-

 

“When did you start here?” Ness asked, staring at the ceiling. 

By now, the boys had been hanging out for hours, and no work was getting done whatsoever. The Super Nintendo was still on in the background, and the three lied sprawled out on the ground, simply talking at this point.

“As early as I could,” Tony replied, “the same year as Jeff.”

“We’ve been roomed together ever since.” Jeff added.

“Why’d you choose Snow Wood?”

Tony shrugged.

“I don’t know, I guess good ratings? I had a lot to get away from at home, my mom thought it would be better if I went to school somewhere else.”

“Why’d you come, Ness?” Jeff asked, before Ness could get to ask him the same question.

“Hah, I guess also good ratings. Mostly, I convinced my mom to let me come because I didn’t want Paula to be alone.” Ness replied, sticking his legs up in the air and waving them around as if it was the most entertaining thing in the world.

“Why’d Paula have to come?” Tony said, watching Ness’s legs.

“She also had a lot to get away from at home. I mean, Mr. and Mrs. Polestar are nice and all, and they really love her, but the rest of the town is really weird about her PSI.” Ness replied.

“She has PSI?” Jeff asked, turning to look at Ness now.

“Yeah! So do I.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“And Poo does too. Gosh, you should see it.” Ness waved his hands in the air. “He said he’s studied it, like, all his life. He’s really good at it.”

“Poo is so cool.” Tony said, wistfully. Jeff sighed.

“Yeah. And he’s so nice, too.” 

“We can- we-“ Ness yawned mid sentence, “we can be cool too!”

Jeff laughed.

“Getting tired?”

“No!” Ness protested, sitting straight up as if this would provide further proof. “I’m awake as a bear.”

“Do people say that?” Tony said.

“Ness does.” Jeff replied.

 

For a moment, they sat in silence again, Tony and Jeff nearly pressing their heads together where they were lying on the floor. Jeff reached up to scratch his head, if only to feel Tony’s soft hair against the back of his hand for a split second when he did so. Not that he’d admit that, or even have much of an understanding of why he’d do it in the first place. He almost wished that Ness was gone, that it was just he and Tony. Almost.

And he didn’t quite understand that almost feeling, because Ness was his friend. He didn’t understand why he would want Ness to leave him and Tony alone, and, frankly, he didn’t want to understand anyway.

Then, Tony yawned.

“I’m so sleepy.” He said, sitting up.

“We haven’t done any of our homework yet.” Jeff said, mortified as he realized this. Tony laughed.

“You’re gonna be okay if you miss homework like, one time.” Tony said, lightly kicking Jeff until he sat up.

“That’s what  _ you  _ think.” Jeff said, standing up.

“Yes,” Tony replied, “that is what I think.”

Ness laughed from the other side of the room and stood up.

“Are you guys going to bed?”

“Yeah,” Tony stretched himself out, “probably.”

“Alright.” Ness picked his hat up off the ground and walked towards the door. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

“Night, Ness!” Tony said.

“Goodnight! Jeff, go to sleep tonight.” Ness said, on his way out. Jeff shrugged.

“No promises. Goodnight.”

 

Ness shut the door behind himself, and a moment of silence hung in the air as Tony turned to Jeff with an odd grin on his face.

“What?” Jeff said, confused, before Tony tackled him onto his own bed.

“Ah! Tony-!” Jeff laughed and struggled against his friend, who was also laughing, trying to pin him down to the bed.

“Get in bed! Go to sleep!” Tony was shouting playfully, and the air was filled with laughter and giggles as Jeff grappled against Tony.

Then, Tony had him down, and was grinning above Jeff as he held his wrists to the mattress. They were both breathless, and for a small moment Jeff’s mouth hung open, face growing noticeably warm, before he smirked up at Tony.

“You’ll never defeat me and my insomnia.”

“Maybe not today, Andonuts.” Tony said dramatically. “Maybe not today, and maybe not the next day, but someday.”

Jeff giggled and they remained like that for a split second longer than Jeff felt was normal, and during that split second, he wanted something to happen, or to do something, or for something to have occurred that didn’t occur before Tony released him and rolled off the bed. Jeff let out a breath that was holding an unidentified emotion within it.

“Go to bed tonight, please?” Tony said, sitting down on his own bed.

“Fine.” Jeff groaned, though a smile still lingered on his lips.

 

And they changed into their pajamas, Jeff averting his eyes, climbed into their beds, and Jeff didn’t take the scrap parts out from under his bed or the book light taped to a headband. And they turned out the lights, and Jeff rolled over in his bed, and found himself actually trying to sleep like any other person would for the first time in a long time.

And, in his mind, the scene that had just transpired playing over and over.

 

—-

 

“Ness? Neeeesss…”

Ness jumped in his seat and turned to look at Jeff, face red.

“Wh- Yeah?”

Jeff and Poo exchanged a look, both brimming with laughter that threatened to escape them. Ness had been staring wistfully across the room at Paula, who was sharpening each of her colored pencils over the trash can. Jeff raised an eyebrow and snorted, and Ness huffed and crossed his arms.

“Shut up, both of you!”

“We didn’t say anything!” Jeff cried, knowing very well what Ness meant.

“I don’t…” Ness faltered, finger held up in the air. “I do not!!!” 

“Alright, alright.” Poo said, smiling and shaking his head. “Let’s just get back to work.”

“So, as I was saying,” Jeff began, looking back down to his notebook, “if we’re working with non-aerodynamicy, we need to make the design of the craft… well… not aerodynamic. So, we have to try and sketch out some ideas.”

“Yes, that’s why Paula is sharpening the pencils.” Poo replied.

“It doesn’t… need to be in color.” Jeff said.

“Well, maybe she wants it to be.” Ness said, defensively. Jeff looked at him for a moment and shrugged.

“Alright, then. Anyway, I was thinking about making it possibly more spherical. Of course, the least aerodynamic shape would be a sheet, but I’m not sure if we can take it that far…”

 

—-

 

“Ah, man, I have to work on my project tonight.”

Jeff turned to look behind his shoulder.

“Is your group coming to our room?” He asked.

“No, we’re meeting up in the library.” Tony sighed and sunk into his seat. “I don’t want tooooo…”

“Well you have toooo… Come on, get up.” Jeff walked over to nudge Tony out of his chair.

“What, do you really want me to leave that badly?” Tony teased, standing up.

“No,” Jeff crossed his arms, “I want you to pass that class.”

Tony huffed dramatically and began gathering his books and other various materials into his arms.

“Fine…” He said, with half feigned grumpiness. Jeff smiled and exhaled through his nose.

“I wish we’d been grouped together.” He said, sitting down on his bed.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Well,  _ you  _ only wish that so you can copy off my work.” Jeff taunted.

“That’s not true!” Tony cried. Jeff silently raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, it’s kinda true.” Tony admitted. “But, like, that’s only one percent of the reason.”

Jeff laughed.

“Well,” Tony stood up, arms filled with his materials, “I have to go.”

“Need me to get the door?” Jeff asked. Tony looked down at the assortment of items in his arms, and then back up at Jeff.

“Yes.”

Jeff stood up and opened the door for Tony, who left for the library after their final goodbyes, and Jeff shut the door. Then, unsure of what to do with himself, now that he was alone, he sat down quietly on his bed.

After a minute of dull silence in which Jeff was just twiddling his thumbs awkwardly, a knock sounded on the door. Tony must have forgotten something, Jeff figures, as he stood up to answer the door.

 

“Hey T- oh, hi, Poo.”

Tony did not, in fact, forget something (and if he did, he didn't come back to get it). Poo stood at the door, smiling politely, and wearing clothing that was far more casual than Jeff had ever seen him in. He assumed these were pajamas.

“Hello, Jeff. Can I come in?”

“Oh- um, sure.” Jeff answered blankly, still shocked that Poo had shown up at his door. He opened the door wider to let Poo in, who stepped into the room and looked around curiously.

“Where’s Tony?” 

“Oh, he went to work on his project.” Jeff replied, shutting the door. He walked back over to his own bed and sat down once again.

“Ah, I see.” Poo pointed to Tony’s bed. “May I sit here?”

“On- on Tony’s bed?” Jeff asked, frozen for a small moment. Poo did not reply, and instead simply shrugged.

“Alright, I’ll sit on yours, then.”

And he did, Jeff moved over to allow for Poo, still feeling awfully awkward.

“So, what are you doing here?” Jeff asked, picking at the edge of his blanket. Poo shrugged.

“It’s much easier to make friends when you make an effort to speak to and be around them, isn’t it?”

Jeff’s mouth dried up for a moment.

“Oh- I guess so, yes.”

Poo cocked a thick eyebrow.

“Are you alright? Should I go?” He said, and it was very genuine and filled with concern, while also lacking any insecurity or defensiveness. 

“Oh, no! I’m sorry, I’m just… intimidated, I guess.” Jeff replied, lacking a better word.

“Intimidated?” Poo chuckled. “Well, gee, I didn’t think I was frightening…”

“Ah- wait, no, that’s not what I meant.” Jeff corrected himself, struggling with words. “I just- I meant that… you’rejustverycool.” 

“Cool?!?” Poo shouted, breaking the quiet that Jeff had used to relay his previous message, and broke out in laughter.

“Stop- stop laughing! Shut up!” Jeff protested, ears growing red. Poo snorted.

“S-sorry,” he said, still laughing, “it’s just funny!”

“I’m serious! Ness said that you’ve trained your whole life in PSI.” 

“Oh,” Poo calmed down, still smiling, “yes, that’s true. I’ve studied martial arts as well, but that would be about it. That’s why I’m taking mainly first year classes. You’ve studied other things your whole life, haven’t you? It’s really not much different.”

“But… PSI and martial arts are so…  _ cool. _ ” Jeff replied, as if he was trying to convince Poo of such.

“Well, maybe to you.” Poo said, shrugging. “I think that science you know so much about is awfully ‘cool’ myself.” He quoted ‘cool’ in the air with his fingers.

“Ah… well, thank you.” Jeff said, adjusting his glasses.

“And thanks to you, as well.”

 

There was a small moment of awkward silence, a lull in the conversation as Jeff considered asking a question that he very much wanted to ask.

“Can you… can you show me?”

“Show you what?”

“You know…” Jeff twisted around his hands, as if this would make things more clear, “PSI.”

“Ah,” Poo replied, “that might be a bit dangerous inside…”

“Please?!? Just something small!”

 

Poo hesitated for a moment, then smiled sheepishly, seeing the stars in Jeff’s eyes.

“Alright. Here,” he held a finger in the air and, seemingly effortlessly, produced swirling winter air around it, embellished with snowflakes and chunks of ice that remained suspended in the air, as if it were a regular contained snow globe, “This is PSI Freeze.”

“Woah…” Jeff pushed his glasses up on his nose, eyes wide, and leaned in to get a better look. Inside the winter storm floating around Poo’s hand his breath turned foggy, and he held out his own hand to see-

“Ah!”

Indeed, it was cold. Very, very cold.

“Careful!”

The snow and ice retreated back into Poo’s hand, and Jeff pulled back, shaking his hand.

“Ow.”

“It’s meant to hurt. It’s for fighting. Are you okay?”

Poo reached out to grab the hand that Jeff had injured with gentle calloused hands, still cold from the PSI, to inspect the wound. He hummed quietly to himself and pulled his left hand back, not looking away from Jeff’s finger.

“PSI Fire!”

In his left hand flames leapt up and lapped at the air like they were hungry, crackling and dancing with such contained chaos in his hand. Then, he pulled the fire back, and took Jeff’s cold finger into his warm hand.

“There,” he said, “is that better?”

“You don’t know any healing PSI?” 

Poo blinked, face blank.

“PSI Lifeup.” He said, almost defeatedly. Jeff’s finger quickly returned to its good health, and Jeff struggled to hold in a laugh. Poo released his hand and flopped backwards onto the bed.

“It’s- it’s okay-“ the laughter was escaping, “d-don’t worry about it.”

Without warning, Poo burst out with laughter and slapped a hand to his forehead.

“Gee, fifteen years of training…”

Jeff saw this as an invitation to laugh as well, and they remained like this for a small while, bursting back into giggles every time they thought they had recovered.

 

“Oh, lands…” Poo said, finally, “I’m sorry about your finger.”

“It’s alright.” Jeff replied, smiling.

Poo sat back up.

“So, you’ve been talking with Ness, yes?”

“Oh, yeah. He and Tony really hit it off, so he visits our room a lot. He’s fun.” Jeff replied, idly kicking his legs. Poo nodded.

“He is a good kid.” He said, and Jeff remembered then that he and Ness were roommates.

“Hey, him and Paula-“

“Oh, him and Paula!” Poo interrupted, stretching his arms out like a very excited small child. “You should hear him talk about her. The way he looks at her during class, that’s  _ nothing  _ compared to how he speaks of her late at night.”

“Ooooh…” Jeff mimicked the sound of a class of small children hearing one of their peers being called down to the office, “He  _ likes  _ her…”

“Ah, not a doubt about it.” Poo replied, nodding. “But you cannot tell him that I told you!”

Jeff laughed.

“My lips are sealed.”

“Good.” Poo gave him a firm nod. “Speaking of…”

“Hm?” Jeff looked over to see an odd smirk forming on Poo’s lips.

“What about you?”

“Me?!?” Jeff’s eats grew red. “Me and who?!??”

“Oh, you know!” Poo made a motion towards Tony’s bed with his head. “Tony!”

 

Jeff sputtered, his entire face engulfed in heat, and his eyes the size of dinner plates.

“ **_What?!?!_ ** ” Jeff cried, perhaps a little too loud, and crossed his arms.

“I- I can’t like Tony! He’s a boy!”

Poo blinked. 

“And?”

Jeff stammered.

“And- And-  _ I’m  _ a boy-“

Poo sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Oh, Eaglelanders.” He plopped his cheek down on his hand dejectedly.

“What do you mean, Eaglelanders?” Jeff cried, still very  _ very  _ embarrassed.

“You’re all so odd! With your arbitrary rules and limitations- none of you make any sense.” Poo replied.

“And it’s… it’s different in Dalaam?” Jeff asked, face still red.

“Oh, very.” Poo replied, lifting his head. “I mean, it doesn’t really matter all that much to any of us if someone’s a boy and someone’s a girl. But you Eaglelanders, you have all these rules- girls have the color pink and dresses and tea parties, and boys don’t have those things.” Poo placed a hand to his chest. “Well  _ I  _ wore pink and had tea parties back home, but suddenly! I discover that that’s not allowed here! And for what reason? Well, I am given none!”

Jeff looked at him with confusion for a moment.

“That’s… odd. And… so… in Dalaam, you can… boys can… they can marry other boys? That’s the norm?”

Poo nodded.

“I don’t see why not.”

“But isn’t that… dangerous?”

Poo stared for a moment, before bursting into laughter.

“Is that what they tell you? Just about as dangerous as marrying a woman! Ho, I tell you…” Poo shook his head.

Jeff thought for a moment, watching Poo react as such.

“Hm. I… I am sorry if I insulted your culture.” He folded his hands awkwardly.

“No, no…” Poo replied, still smiling. “You haven’t. I apologize if I insulted  _ yours. _ ”

“Oh, no!” Jeff shook his head. “You were simply… talking about your grievances and confusion.”

Poo gave him a lopsided smile.

“Well, I appreciate your listening to my rambling. And… you  _ don’t  _ like Tony?”

“I- no! I don’t!” Jeff crossed his arms. “I do not.”

“And you’re sure?” Poo raised his eyebrows.

“Yes! Yes, I’m sure. I wouldn’t say so if I wasn’t sure.”

Poo laughed.

“Oh, I’m just teasing. Calm down.”

Jeff shuffled in a ‘harrumph’ motion, arms still crossed, because he was pretty sure that Poo definitely did not believe him. But he believed himself (probably), and that’s what mattered.

 

“... Do you want to play Street Fighter?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I love Poo. What a boy. Anyway, towards the end of this chapter this got really hard to write, as far as accuracy goes. I'm bisexual, but I grew up in a very accepting family, and I never really had the "oh, you can be gay? that's a thing?" moment, because it was always open to me, so it was difficult writing that moment onto a character. I hope that I did well. Also, none of you should expect updates as often as the first two came within each other. Mostly because I cannot promise anything, I usually end up working on these things very arbitrarily. That's all!


	3. Chapter 3

A cold breeze drifted into the room from the slightly ajar window that the librarian insisted on having open despite the temperatures (she was often times wearing far too many sweaters, and instead of taking one off, she opted for the open window), and Jeff crossed his arms in a poor attempt to retain body heat. He stared down more intensely at the open book on his lap, trying to focus on that rather than the cold. It was awfully quiet in the library, as it should be, and most students were studying or reading their own independent books. He and Tony were among the latter, sitting on beanbag chairs next to each other.

Jeff looked up momentarily to Tony, who was completely absorbed by his book. Tony was far from a math person, but he was a bit of a sucker for literature. When he got the chance to read, begging Jeff to accompany him to the library, he would lose himself inside the worlds of his books each time without fail.

The cold draft blew Tony’s messy auburn hair lightly on his forehead, brushing the area directly above his eyebrows gently. Tony was unperturbed by this, continuing to read, and blinking those awfully long brown eyelashes of his that Jeff knew well by now. His cheeks and nose were red in the chill amongst the few hardly noticeable freckles dotted across his cheeks, only noticeable to those who really knew Tony very well. Tony licked his finger and flipped the page, and Jeff remembered how much he hated that Tony did that. He blinked his brown eyes again- they were dark, Jeff noted, most of the time, but when the light hit them they turned amber, like a lighter version of his hair. Absentmindedly, Tony reached to tuck a tuft of hair behind his ear.

 

“Hi Jeff, hi Tony!” Someone whispered, and Jeff jumped in his seat, nearly launching the book off his lap. Suddenly, he felt much less cold. 

“Hi, Poo.” Jeff replied, adjusting his glasses and trying to keep his cool. Tony looked up from his book and smiled.

“Hello!” He whispered, closing the book.

“Aren’t you two cold?” Poo said, kneeling down next to Jeff.

“You get used to it, up here.” Tony said, shrugging.

Despite their best efforts to keep quiet, the librarian hushed them from across the room. Poo winced.

“Do you want to take this somewhere else?” Tony whispered, and Poo nodded, standing up. 

Jeff closed his book quietly and followed behind Poo and Tony, who were making their way out of the library.

 

“Wow, it’s freezing in there.” Poo said, once they’d left.

“The librarian likes to have the window open,” Jeff replied, “as if the library didn’t have to be cold already.”

“I’ll bet it’s much warmer in Dalaam.” Tony said, adjusting his hat.

“Oh, it is.” Poo nodded. “Winter in Dalaam doesn’t even reach these temperatures.”

“Man, it must be hot over there.” Jeff remarked, stuffing his book into his bag.

“To you, maybe.” Poo replied, laughing. 

 

The group began on their way down the hall, none of them sure where they were going, but all of them quite happy to be hanging out together nonetheless. 

“Honestly, how do you all keep fit here? There’s far too much snow for any outdoor activity.” Poo said, raising his arms behind his head.

“Well, there’s the gymnasium, of course.” Jeff replied.

“And we ice skate!” Tony added joyfully. Yes, Tony was quite good at ice skating, and he liked it too. He rarely ever got Jeff to tag along, but when he did, Jeff mostly followed because he knew they would be earning hot chocolate afterwards.

“Ice skating!” Poo cried. “I’ve never done that before.”

“Oh, I should teach you!” Tony replied, practically skipping now. “Can we do that tomorrow, do you think?”

“Tony, you have your project tomorrow.” Jeff interrupted, nudging Tony with his elbow.

“Oh, you’re right, I do.” Tony sighed. “But ice skating!”

“You can go some other time.” Jeff said, patting Tony on the shoulder. “I promise I’ll go with you when you finish your project.”

Tony gave Jeff a small grateful smile, and Jeff’s stomach did a little flip.

“Well, I would still like to learn.” Poo said, nudging Jeff. “Could you teach me, Jeff?”

“Ah-“ Jeff stammered, “I’m really no good at it, I don’t think I’d be the best teacher-“

“You’re good enough, Jeff! You could surely teach him.” Tony interrupted, smiling.

“Would you, Jeff? I mean, it would really be fine either way-“

“Come on Jeff! Why not?”

Jeff blinked, Tony staring at him with giant pleading eyes. He sighed.

“Alright, I’ll teach Poo.”

“Yes!” Poo raised a fist into the air, before clearing his throat and nodding. “Thank you, Jeff.”

“‘Atta boy!” Tony said, before skipping ahead. Jeff pinned subsequent heart palpitations on the surplus of coffee he had that morning.

 

—-

 

“I’m really, really rusty.” Jeff said, lacing up his white ice skates. They were very, very old, and they were once his mother’s, and were two of the only things he had of hers after her passing. Because of this, he didn’t mind much that they were women’s skates. Besides, it’s not as if Poo would mind either, or even know the difference.

“That’s okay.” Poo replied. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

Jeff tied his laces and stood off the bench just next to the frozen over pond that sat out behind the school (still on campus, of course) and slid gently on the ice.

“Um… I guess- so, see this pointy bit on the bottom of the skate?” Jeff pointed to his foot, and Poo lifted his foot into his lap to look at his own skate from the bench. Tony had let him borrow his.

“Yes, I see it.”

“That’s for stopping. You kinda use it to dig into the ice.” Jeff replied, half demonstrating by tilting his heel back. Poo nodded.

“Alright.”

“And, uh, the most important thing is balance, so you kinda wanna have your knees bent-“ Before Jeff could finish, Poo was standing up onto the ice and gliding over to him. He wobbled and threw his arms about as if trying to grab for a wall that wasn’t there to hold him up, and Jeff grabbed his arm to keep him from falling.

“Oh dear,” Poo said, holding onto Jeff like his life depended on it, “this is much more difficult than I thought.” Jeff laughed.

“It’s kinda scary at first, but not as much later.”

“Can you give me a demonstration?” Poo asked, eyes almost pleading.

“That means I have to let go. Is that okay?”

Poo paused for a moment.

“Yes,” he said, finally, “that’s okay.”

 

Jeff released Poo from his grasp and slid backwards slightly, before pushing himself forward across the ice on his right foot.

“See, you gotta move kinda like this-“

Jeff glided almost gracefully across the ice, one foot after another, before he tilted his heel backwards with perhaps a little too much force and slipped, falling backwards onto the ice with a thump and perhaps a very loud cuss word.

When Jeff registered what had happened, he was lying backwards on the ice as Poo was laughing hysterically.

“Shut up! It’s not-“ Jeff giggled despite himself, “it’s not funny!”

“It’s very funny, and you know it!” Poo laughed and sat down on the ice, removing his skates. Once they were off, he shuffled over to Jeff and offered his hand. Jeff took it, still laughing, and stood up before skating back over to the bench, grabbing onto it to stop himself.

Poo plopped down next to him as he removed his skates, giggling.

“You don’t have to teach me how to skate if you don’t want to.” Poo said, leaning back and putting his boots back on. “We can just talk.”

“I think I’d prefer that right now.” Jeff replied, rubbing his back. Poo placed a palm on Jeff’s arm and muttered something about PSI, and Jeff’s body felt instantly much better. Still, he was rather exhausted from the shock of the fall.

“Thank you.” 

“Of course.”

Jeff pulled his dress shoes back onto his feet.

“So,” 

“Hm?”

“What’s this dance situation that everyone is talking about?” Poo asked, looking up at the sky.

“Oh, you mean, like, the school dance? Odd for a boarding school to do, I know.”

“What’s it for?”

Jeff shrugged.

“Fun, I guess. It’s kinda like a little party held in the gymnasium, and you can dress up all nice and bring a date.”

Poo’s eyes grew wide in realization.

“Ah. That makes much more sense now.”

“What?” 

“The other day, Ness was speaking to me about wanting to ask Paula to ‘the dance’. I didn’t know why he was so nervous about it until just now.”

Jeff gasped. 

“He’s going to ask her out?!?”

“Well, maybe. He’s not quite sure yet.” Poo shrugged. “What about you? Are you going?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Jeff replied. “I wasn’t planning on it, but it might be worth it just to see Ness and Paula go together.”

Poo laughed.

“Well, I think you should go. And you can bring Tony.” Poo said, crossing his legs.

“Wh- What, as a date?”

Poo looked at Jeff as if to say “is there another answer?”

“I already told you, I don’t-“

“You told me that with your mouth, yes.” Poo replied, a smug smile stretching across his face.

“What is that supposed to mean?!?” Jeff’s voice cracked.

“Well, when I came into the library yesterday, you were-“

“Reading.” Jeff promptly interrupted. “I was reading.”

“You most certainly were not.” Poo was finding Jeff’s flusteredness quite amusing, which only made Jeff more flustered.

“Yes I was.” He insisted. “I was there to read and that’s what I was doing.”

Poo shook his head.

“Alright. Well, I’ll let you know if Ness decides to go through with it.” Poo stood up. “Maybe we should head inside. It’s cold out here.”

Jeff pulled his scarf over his hot face and nodded.

 

—-

  
  


“JEFF!”

Poo just about kicked open the door to Jeff and Tony’s room and appeared in the doorway in the midst of Jeff and Tony silently working on homework. Jeff jumped and threw his textbook in shock, and Tony laughed.

“Jeez, could you knock!? One of us could have been changing!”

Poo did not reply and instead walked into the room, shutting the door behind him, and tilted his chin upwards with a smirk.

“He did it.” 

“No way, really?” Jeff replied, standing up.

“Yes!” Poo cried, clapping his hands together.

“Sorry, what’s going on?” Tony piped up from his bed.

“Ness asked Paula to the upcoming dance.” Poo grinned, and Tony’s jaw dropped.

“What did she say?!?!” He shouted, crawling forwards on his knees in eager anticipation.

“She said YES!” 

Poo threw his hands in the air, and the three boys erupted into cheers for their friends that were not even present at the moment. Mid yelling, their neighbors pounded on the wall separating their rooms and shouted variations of “be quiet”, and Jeff remembered that it was awfully late. 

“Sorry!”

“Poo, that’s fantastic!” Tony whispered to Poo, who was absolutely beaming. “Jeff, we have to go just to see them dance together.”

Jeff promptly ignored the eyebrow raised “eh?” look that Poo was shooting him and nodded.

“Oh, we can wear those fancy tail coats my mom sent us!” Tony scrambled off his bed to fetch said jackets.

“Oh, that would be just splendid!” Poo said, and Jeff shot him a look while Tony had his back to them.

“It will be!” Tony replied, completely oblivious to the teasing in Poo’s voice. “And you’ll be there too, won’t you?”

“I sure will!” Poo nodded. “I suppose I’ll be a ‘wingman’ of sorts.”

Poo winked incredibly subtly at Jeff, or perhaps Tony was just very oblivious. Either way, he didn’t seem to notice. At least, Jeff sure  _ hoped  _ he didn’t. 

“Awesome!” Tony peeked back into the closet where he had been searching for the aforementioned coats. “Oh, look at these shoes!”

Tony pulled out two pairs of pale pink dress shoes and, oh, Jeff had to admit that they were quite nice.

“I forgot that she sent us these for Christmas. Here, these are yours.” Tony passed the smaller pair over to Jeff.

“These may be the nicest things I own now.” Jeff said, taking them into his hands. “Your mom needs to stop getting me gifts!”

“You deserve them!” Tony replied, taking the coats into his arms.

“She feels bad, doesn’t she?” Jeff said, smiling almost sadly. Tony shrugged, returning a sympathetic look.

“Hm?” Jeff had almost forgotten that Poo was there. “Feels bad?”

“Oh- um, ah-”

“You- you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to!” Poo said, quickly. “I’m sorry for intruding!”

“No, it’s alright.” Jeff replied, placing the shoes on the ground. “My mom passed away when I was very young, so I don’t get many Christmas gifts. It was a long time ago, don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Jeff shook his head as if to say that it was fine. “And- and your father?”

The air grew instantly thick, and Tony visibly swallowed, watching Jeff for any sign of uncomfort. 

“He’s… still alive.” Jeff licked his lips nervously. “I don’t really remember him, though.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up.” Poo replied, seeming unsure of what to do or say for the first time since Jeff had met him.

“Hah, it’s alright.” Jeff said. “You were going to find out eventually. Anyway, that’s not important.”

“Right!” Tony cried, tossing the coats onto the bed. “Right now, what’s important is that Ness and Paula are going to the dance together and Jeff and I are going to look fantastic.” Jeff giggled, eternally grateful for Tony effectively changing the subject at times like these.

“I don’t doubt it.” Poo replied, laughing.

 

And once Poo had left and Jeff and Tony had decided who was going to wear the one pair of suspenders that they shared, Tony watched a smile slip from Jeff’s face as he stood up to move his homework from off his bed. Tony bit his lip and furrowed his brow and followed after Jeff, pulling him swiftly into a tight hug.

Jeff gasped and was still for a moment before wrapping his arms back around Tony, burying his face in Tony’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” Jeff sniffed, “I guess I’m just kind of emotional about it tonight.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

 

\---

 

The punch was pretty good, at least.

 

Jeff didn’t really listen to the radio all that much, so he didn’t recognize most of the music echoing through the gymnasium walls. Paula had showed up in a wonderful frilly pink dress, red lipstick, short red pumps, and a good helping of body glitter. Ness, who had been chatting nervously with Jeff, Tony, and Poo when she came in, immediately dried up and sputtered, much to the boys’ amusement. Jeff had ended up wearing the suspenders after all- they matched the shoes, and he quite liked it. To suffice for his lack of matching accessories, Tony had tied a pink ribbon around his hat. Poo had arrived in the most royal shade of purple and his hair out of braid for the first time since Jeff had met him, and it turned out that he had incredibly long, incredibly beautiful soft dark hair, and Jeff was almost jealous. Paula gushed over this, begging Poo to let her do his hair someday, to which he happily agreed.

As “Macarena” reverberated through the gym, Jeff and Tony were making a beeline for the abandoned snack table as the rest of the students were running off to dance, and laughing as they watched Ness and Paula attempt to teach the dance to Poo despite not knowing the dance too well themselves. 

“Oh my god, look at them.”

Jeff looked up from his punch to see Ness and Paula dancing with each other across the room, Poo standing idly by and watching, having given up entirely on learning the dance.

“They’re so cute together!” Tony chirped, placing his hand on his cheek.

“Look at Poo, third wheeling over there.” Jeff said, laughing. Poo was watching Ness and Paula blank faced, arms crossed. Tony snickered.

“Oh, poor thing.” Tony waved violently. “Hey! Poo!”

Poo looked up and smiled, waving back. When he came across the gym to meet them, Ness and Paula hardly seemed to notice. 

“Two love birds, they are.” Poo remarked, nodding back at the dance floor.

“Third wheel, you are.” Jeff replied, leaning back against the wall.

“Yoda, you both are.” Tony sipped his punch as Jeff giggled.

 

Macarena faded into silence as another song began to pick up through the gymnasium, a softer one in a much more gentle key, and instantly the air changed, the students knowing that this meant  _ slow dance _ . 

Across the way, Ness and Paula had frozen, both awfully shy and nervous, and doing their best not to show it. Ness smiled sheepishly and held out his hand without looking at Paula, and Paula smiled and took it slowly. Jeff, Tony, and Poo watched as she placed her hands on his shoulders, and Ness placed trembling hands above her hips, beginning to sway. Around them, students “oooh”ed, watching Ness and Paula be the first couple to dance, and slowly around them other boys and girls began to assume the same position. 

“Aww,” Tony said, “look at them!”

“I am.” Jeff stuck his index finger in his mouth and made a hurling sound.

“Oh, shut up!” Tony laughed and punched Jeff on the shoulder lightly. Jeff snorted.

“Hold on, I’m gonna throw away my cup.” Tony made for the opposite side of the gym, where the trash can sat, empty styrofoam cup in hand.

 

The chorus picked up, and Jeff and Poo watched as Paula rested her head on Ness’s shoulder, and Ness gasped, making eye contact with them and pointing at Paula’s back excitedly. Poo laughed and gave him a thumbs up.

Jeff gave back a half hearted smile before his eyes traveled across the gym, where Tony was tossing his empty cup. He took off his hat idly, fixing his hair, and watching the couples on the dance floor. Jeff watched his watching for a long moment.

“I have to use the bathroom.” Jeff muttered, and before Poo could reply, he had disappeared from the gymnasium.

 

Jeff swung open the door of the nearest boy’s bathroom and promptly closed it and leaned back against it.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, shutting his eyes and thinking that maybe he would feel a little better if he just did some deep breathing. It didn’t really fix his problem, but at least it was refreshing anyway. Pushing himself off the door he caught sight of himself in the mirror sitting above the sink, and hesitated for a small moment. His hair was a bit of a mess and his glasses were hanging crooked on his face, and he was awfully flushed. 

 

He wondered idly what his mom would think. He remembered her just a little, but what he did remember was splendid. After all, she didn’t choose to die. If it were up to her, Jeff thinks that she would have stuck around to take care of and love Jeff. 

Jeff was afraid, mostly. Afraid that perhaps she wouldn’t have been the same mom that Jeff wanted so desperately to believe she was if she was still alive. Not the mom that would still love him, he means. If she knew, anyway. If she knew exactly what he was feeling- perhaps she was watching right now. 

 

Oddly, that calmed Jeff’s nerves just slightly. At least, then, it wouldn’t be so much of a mystery that she’d never come to make up her mind on, or even see in the first place. 

What would his dad think?

 

Now that was a question, if ever there was one. He hardly knew a thing about his father, and he knew he shouldn’t be looking for acceptance from such a person, and yet he couldn’t help but wonder. It’s not as if he expected Dr. Andonuts to be the good parent about it. He never thought his father was the good parent, he could hardly believe that the parent who actively chose not to see him was the good parent. He would- Jeff probably would not be surprised by his father’s reaction. If he knew, anyway. If he knew that ever since Poo had mentioned- ever since he’d mentioned that, Jeff hadn’t felt quite right since, and yet he feels like he’s felt that way his whole life. It just wasn’t wrong, or maybe it just wasn’t what he thought it was, until now. But he knows that’s how it’s always been with Tony, nothing has changed and yet he’s so much more  _ afraid  _ of it now. But he counted the freckles on Tony’s cheeks last night and he loves that his jacket smells like him and he couldn’t help but blush when Tony tied his bow tie for him this morning-

 

Jeff decided he didn’t want to see himself right now, and took off his glasses. He took some solace in the pale skinned blur he became in the mirror, and leaned back against the wall, sliding down to a sit. Hanging his glasses from his collar, he let his head rest against the wall and shut his eyes, deciding to do some more deep breathing. He could still hear the music echoing softly from the gymnasium, and he felt all of a sudden like he was riding a roller coaster when he had forgotten to bring down the secure bar and fasten his seat belt, and he was just trying desperately to cling to his seat so as not to fly off the ride before it ended. And he was… he was upset. He was confused and sad and angry, because none of it was fair. It wasn’t fair that his father had abandoned him and he still wanted his acceptance and it wasn’t fair that his mother died before Jeff could even know if she would still love him, and it wasn’t fair that… no, it wasn’t fair.

 

A knock sounded on the bathroom door and Jeff scrambled to stand up and place his glasses back on his face- oh, his face was wet. He hadn’t realized he’d been crying. He wiped his face on his sleeves and hoped to god that Tony wasn’t at the door- or maybe he hoped that it was Tony. He wasn’t sure.

“Jeff? Are you okay?” It was Poo, and Jeff breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” He replied, failing tremendously to sound like that was actually the case.

“I’m coming in.” Poo warned, and opened the door before Jeff could protest.

 

Jeff imagined he looked something of a mess, his glasses were askew and his hair was disheveled, and he felt awfully small, like the jacket Tony’s mother had bought for him was completely consuming him.

“I told you, I’m fine-”

“It’s okay.” Poo said, shutting the door behind him. “It’s okay not to be fine, I mean.”

Jeff looked away, fixing his glasses.

“I think I know what’s going on, at least a little, and I know you’re not okay-“ Poo began, before he was interrupted by Jeff rushing in with a tight hug, within which was… everything. The hug was like a white flag that Jeff was waving inside his own head, it was a confession and not an acceptance, but at least an understanding. And Jeff was so, so afraid, but it felt good. It felt like relief, like finally taking off an itchy turtleneck, like finishing the mile jog, like having the professor finally call on you after you’d been raising your hand for at least two minutes, like breathing for the first time in forever, because Jeff felt like he hadn’t been breathing for the past month. Poo wrapped his arms back around Jeff, and hugged tighter when he felt Jeff’s back shake with his own breaths.

“It’s okay… it’s okay to be someone you don’t get a say in being, you know?”

Poo didn’t know all of it, but Jeff appreciated it anyway.

 

—-

 

“We can leave, if you want.”

Jeff and Poo had returned to the gymnasium after a minute, and Tony knew Jeff far too well to believe that Jeff was doing well after a single glance of his face. He had led him out into the hallway, where the music became muffled and otherworldly.

“You don’t have to come with me if I leave.” Jeff replied, rubbing his arm idly.

“It wouldn’t be any fun without you, silly.” Tony said, and Jeff cracked a very small, still weak smile.

“I’m not gonna drag you away-“

“I’m gonna drag you away if you don’t want to be here. It’s gonna be just as fun as long as I’m with you.”

Jeff’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest in that moment, and he rubbed the shaved part of the back of his head.

“Okay.”

Tony stepped forward and linked his arm around Jeff’s gently. They walked down the hall slowly, Jeff feeling awfully tired and soft. Tony stopped for a moment and looked back.

“I like this song.” He said, and for a moment the two stood, arm in arm, listening to the distant reverberations of a song that felt oddly comforting to Jeff. He thought it was kind of funny, how Poo knew one half of it and Tony knew the other. 

“Me too.”

 

When they reached their room, Tony and Jeff took off their fancy jackets and fancy shoes and changed into their pajamas, ready for a night of playing Super Nintendo together quietly and comfortably, and Tony stepped forward to hug Jeff, who leaned so far into the hug that he could have melted into Tony. And this hug was different from the hug he’d shared with Poo, because this time there were other things in it. A softness and a sweetness, a storm that had settled to the ground and a sleepiness. Tony’s ribcage fit into his own the way they were hugging. His hands were not clenching Tony’s clothing the way they had clenched Poo’s now.

 

And even though he was still much too afraid to let his hands travel to the back of Tony’s neck, or to let his fingers curl around Tony’s, this time, there was perhaps just a little bit of acceptance in the hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody suggested that I update this on Valentine's Day, so here we are. I hope you're all having a good Valentine's Day, and if you're reading this after Valentine's Day, I hope you're having a good Day Day.


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